


The Russian Shuffle

by VivArney



Category: The Tomorrow People (1973)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 10:30:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5623903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VivArney/pseuds/VivArney





	The Russian Shuffle

Chapter One  
Fire and Snow

Two thirteen year old boys with soft brown hair, round freckled faces and pale blue eyes were playing in the deep snow behind their home in Alapayevsk, a mid-sized city in Russian. Nikolai Proshadn was four minutes older than his brother, Piotr, and they were their mother’s dearest treasures. Their father had died only a month before their births which made them even more precious to their young mother, Kafia. 

At the moment, they were playing a game that had recently become a favorite with them.

Nikolai formed a snowball and tossed it high in the air. As it started to come down, it suddenly it burst apart with a soft "ffuht."

"My turn!" Nikolai cried happily in Russian.

"Ready?" Piotr asked, after he'd formed a snowball.

Nikolai nodded and his brother tossed the snowball high into the air.

It too exploded with a soft ffuht and the boys crowed with laughter.

* * * * *

The early morning sun shone brightly down through the passageways of a small, fairly unimpressive apartment complex that had seen better days. The buildings were red brick with dull brown shutters. The pool, small though it was, sat in the middle of  
the courtyard, circled only by a sidewalk. Steps lead up to a sundeck that held some benches, a barbecue and the complex’s mailboxes. A gentle breeze wafted around the corners and tossed fallen leaves and random bits of paper across the cement.

A tall, young woman in a blue skirt and vest and a white ruffled blouse was climbing wearily up the concrete steps to the courtyard.

She had just walked the two blocks from the city bus stop to the Palm Terrace apartments after a long and busy shift at the Marshall Hotel where she worked as the Night Manager. Her co-workers and the few friends she associated with all believed they knew her very well, but they didn't know (would never know if she had anything to do with it) that she was something  
special. As far as she knew, there were only six other people like her living on Earth, who were fully-trained telepaths and members of an entirely new race of human beings capable of not only transmitting thoughts from linked mind to linked mind, but of transmitting their entire bodies from place to place in the blink of an eye with the aid of a very compact, but powerful boosting device each of them wore.

There were others, of course, but they no longer lived on Earth. Two had become Galactic Police Officers, One had married an ambassador and was now living on the Galactic Trig with her husband and his family, while two others were now ambassadors  
themselves and another worked with the Guardians of Time.

She could have easily Jaunted from the hotel, but there was always the chance that someone might see and besides, on cool, clear mornings like this one, she enjoyed the walk.

As she rounded the corner she passed a small thin man with long hair and a bushy mustache carrying a basket of laundry headed toward the laundry room.

"Morning, Jenna," he said, smiling as he set his basket onto a nearby bench.

"Hi, Dennis. Finally doing your laundry, huh?" she asked, pulling a ring of keys from her vest pocket and sliding the smallest into the lock on her mailbox. She opened it and pulled out a thick stack of envelopes. 

"Very funny. You have a rough night?"

She smiled. "Can you imagine over a hundred teenagers turned loose in the Marshall? Maybe I should call my old teacher and ask her if I was that bad.”

"Knowing you, you probably were,” he said with a grin. 

"Why are you up so early anyway? I thought musicians never got up before noon," she said, flipping quickly though the letters.

"I've got to get the laundry done sometime. Besides, the laundry room's never busy this time of day. Most people don't do their wash at eight in the morning."

"Not sane ones, anyway,” she said with a grin.

"You really are in a mood today,” he said. "I didn’t know we got mail this early.”

“We don’t. I just never got around to coming to get it yesterday and Brie was out of town. She should have come back last night though.”

“I hope those aren't all bills."

"Mostly checks, it looks like," she said, her eyes on the windows on the front of the envelopes. "Maybe a couple of rejection slips in there, too." 

"I saw that story in Analog last month...uh, ‘First Impressions.' It was pretty wild."

She blushed. "Thanks," she said quietly, a little embarrassed.

"Don't get all humble on me. You know your stuff is that good, or they wouldn't be screaming for it."

"Science fiction's easy to sell right now,” she said with a shrug and yawned. She didn't mention that the story he'd referred to had been based on an actual event the year before.

"I'll see you later. You look like you could use some sleep."

"Okay," she agreed, and walked off the platform headed for her apartment. "See you later."

As she passed by the pool, she let down the barrier she kept in her mind. 

The barrier was necessary because soon after she’d broken out she’d been captured by the non-telepaths or, as the Tomorrow People called them Saps The others had been away from Earth after a ruthless attack by a villain named Jedikiah.

By the time the other Tomorrow People had returned to Earth, the experimental drugs the Saps had used to try to control her telepathic abilities had caused serious damage. As a result, she, unlike her friends, often picked up what she called ‘telepathic static’ from the others and sometimes even Saps if they were experiencing extreme emotions. It could get a bit distracting, especially when she was trying to concentrate. Other damage had been done as well, but the “static” had very nearly driven her crazy until John, Elizabeth and TIM had taught her to erect the mental barrier. None of the other telepaths could contact her when the barrier was up. They had created a small “beeper” that TIM could activate if there was an emergency, but otherwise her mind was filled with only her own thoughts.

A moment or so later she heard a familiar voice in her mind.

//Jenna? Jenna, Are you there?//

//Mornin’, TIM! How's it going?// she asked in her mind.

//Jaunt in immediately, please.//

//What's up?// she asked, quickening her pace..

//There has been an accident. John has been seriously injured, and I am unable to contact the others for help.//

//Damn! Why didn’t you use the beeper?//

//It is not functioning. I will explain in detail later. You must Jaunt in immediately.//

//I'm not far from my place, TIM, but I can’t Jaunt from here, there’re too many people around. I'll be there as quick as I can.//

Jenna sprinted up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, unlocked the door telekinetically, and slipped inside closing the door behind her. She tossed the mail into a basket on the desk, flipped her bright orange backpack onto the couch and pulled the thin plastic bracelet down onto her wrist from its hiding place in her sleeve, and after flashing a few quick signs to Brianna, her deaf roommate, she put her hand over the square section of the bracelet and vanished.

Brianna walked over, picked up the mail and pulled her letters from it, dropped Jenna’s back into the basket, then walked back to her bedroom as if nothing unusual had happened.

* * * * *

When Jenna appeared in London a few fractions of a second after she’d vanished from her apartment, she stared into the Lab’s main room in shock. 

“What the Hell happened, TIM?” she asked as she stepped quickly off the Jaunting pad.

“I will explain later, Jenna,” the biotronic computer promised. “Please see to John immediately.”

Jenna looked around the room. “Sure. Where is he?”

“In the workshop.”

She dashed through what remained of the swinging doors and into the large room beyond.

The workshop was in far worse shape than the outer room. Through the thick cloud of smoke, she could see that the largest of the three worktables lay on its side and bits and pieces of John’s most recent projects were scattered all over the tile floor. The  
rats were squealing loudly in their cage, which lay upside down on the floor, their bedding of cedar shavings was scattered in a huge area amongst the bits of equipment. She quickly flipped the cage upright and slid it across the floor and into the common area where the air was clearer.

A small fire erupted inside a panel in the corner and burned brightly until the fire prevention equipment shot a narrow stream of clear liquid from a nozzle in the ceiling.

Jenna coughed as she inhaled some of the hovering smoke. “I don’t see him, TIM. What’s wrong with the blowers?”

“The controls are damaged. I am unable to activate them. John is 2.5 meters to the right of your present location. Please hurry, Jenna.”

She coughed again and dropped to the floor crawling to her right. “Found him!” she cried as her hand landed on his shoulder. John was lying face down on the floor near the back wall of the workshop. The second she touched him she knew he was unconscious, not dead, but the smoke kept her from seeing how badly he was hurt. “Damn, I can’t see squat. Is it safe to  
move him, TIM?”

“You must, Jenna. Continued exposure to the smoke could be fatal.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Roughly ten minutes ago. Fortunately, I was able to keep the room clear until a moment before you arrived - you have both been breathing the smoke for approximately one minute.”

“Can you give me an oxygen cannister?”

“My functions are severely limited,” the biotronic computer reminded her. “There is a canister in the cabinet beside John,”

Jenna opened the drawer, pulled out a small canister and mask and, after taking a large breath from the canister to test it, placed the mask over the older telepath’s face. She reached to move him only to discover that John was pinned beneath the  
worktable. She swore. “His leg’s stuck under the table.”

“Can you move it?”

“Guess I’m gonna have to,” she snapped. “Sorry, TIM. Yeah, I can move it.” Jenna grabbed the top of the table on either side of John’s leg and pushed. The table shifted, but only a little.

“Why am I doing this the hard way?” She took a deep breath and concentrated. The table rose a few inches and hovered while she pulled him free then dropped to the floor with a bang as she released it with her mind.

“Okay, Mad Scientist, let’s get you outta here,” she said, gently rolling him to his back, taking him by the wrists and dragging him out into the main room.

Jenna knelt beside John and frowned at the most obvious injuries. There was a small cut in his temple atop a large and, for a telepath, frightening lump on his head. She knew from experience that, whatever happened in the interim, John would be without his special powers for a while. There was nothing any of them could do for him. The right sleeve of his sweater was torn and blood welled from beneath the material. She didn’t like the look of his right leg either. She couldn’t tell whether it was broken, but it didn’t look right somehow.

“Guess the mediprobe’s not workin’ either, is it?” she asked.

“I am sorry, Jenna, it is not functional.”

Jenna peered through the door of the workshop at the large plexiglass and steel table - one of the side panels was open and the side nearest the blast was badly damaged. “You and your adjustments,” she snorted, realizing then that John had been working on the table just before the accident.

“What IS workin’ around here, TIM?”

“Very little at the moment.”

She sighed. “Where is everybody?”

“Elizabeth is at the Trig, Mike and Hsui Tai are...”

“Don’t give me a roll call, TIM. How many of us are on Earth?”

“At the moment, only you and John.”

“Can you contact them?”

“Unfortunately, I cannot.”

“Damaged too, I bet. Figures.” She frowned and sighed as she looked down at John. “Looks like it’s just me. This looks pretty damn bad, TIM. I don’t know if I can do this.” she admitted as she watched John struggle to breathe. “I haven’t had much  
practice at healing, you know.”

“You must try, Jenna,” TIM said quietly. “I will give you as much assistance as I can.”

She sighed. Her special powers had never been as stable as those of the other Tomorrow People. She’d been kept under the influence of Teleparatrill a derivative of Synaptrill that didn’t cause the synapses to stop firing as Synaptrill did, only those  
relating to telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. The drug had caused enough damage to limit some of her abilities and enhance others, unfortunately, her ability to heal wasn’t one of the enhanced abilities.

“You CAN do this, Jenna,” TIM said in a soft voice. “John needs your help.”

“I... really wish the others were here,” she admitted. 

“I know. Please continue.”

She took a deep breath and ran her hands gently over the odd bend in John’s leg and he groaned uncomfortably. “He’s coming around,”

“Go on,” TIM urged.

She frowned, her dark eyes flicking from the bend in John’s leg to his face. “It’s not just his leg, TIM.”

“Show me.”

Jenna opened her mind to the biotronic computer and he made a soft sound.

“Three broken ribs,” TIM reported, translating the impressions she was receiving. “His right lung has been punctured. There is minor bruising on several of his internal organs and substantial damage to his right forearm and elbow,. The bruising will heal on its own, but you will have to heal the damaged lung first, Then the broken ribs. The rest can wait.”

She nodded and placed a hand on his chest and concentrated. Relief washed over her as she felt the warmth John and TIM had trained her to expect flowing from her body to John’s. A tingling sensation told her that TIM was also feeding her what energy he could without harming both of them. 

“You’ve done it, Jenna!” TIM said excitedly as the damaged bones and tissues recovered. “He’s breathing normally now. Well done.”

She sighed. “WE did it, TIM. I felt that push of yours. Now what?”

“Rest for a moment and we’ll try to heal the damage to his leg.”

John’s eyes fluttered open a few moments later and he looked around groggily. He removed the oxygen mask. “What’s happened?” he asked hoarsely as he tried to sit up. The pain hit him then and he cried out and laid back down, his breathing labored again as he gritted his teeth.

The first wave of John’s pain nearly stunned her and only TIM’s assistance kept her from fainting. “Hold still,” she whispered as his pain continued to flow through their linked minds. It was all she could do to keep it from overwhelming her.

“Please remain calm, John,” TIM advised.

Jenna could feel John’s pain decrease as the ball of healing power that she and TIM were generating grew. Beads of perspiration formed on Jenna’s forehead, dampening her bangs as she concentrated.

Finally, Jenna relaxed and pulled her hands away. “Better?” she asked.

He nodded and groaned. “How bad?”

“You’ll survive.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I’d just gotten home and let down my barrier when TIM said there was trouble and to come here right away.”

She moved her hand toward the tear in his arm. “Near as I can tell, one of your experiments blew up in your face,” she added in a tired voice. 

He took her by the wrist with his uninjured hand. “No,” he said, then coughed roughly.

“But...”

“It’s not that bad, Go and get the kit. We’ll put a bandage on it for now.”

“I can...”

“No, leave it, Jenna. You’re too tired. I can feel it.”

Jenna shook her head. “No, I’m okay.”

He coughed again. “Don’t argue. It will be all right until the others get back and you’ve had some rest," he insisted.

“I don’t like it.” she said as she stood and then had to grab the top of TIM’s canister for support. Using telekinesis to heal wounds was pretty handy, but for anything other than minor injuries it had a draining effect that tended to make a person very  
weak.

When she returned with the kit, she found John sitting up with his back against the nearest sofa. She sat on the floor beside him and opened the seldom used first aid kit. She reached to help him remove first the blue sweater he wore then his long sleeved, white shirt, She tried to be as gentle as she could, but couldn’t suppress a wince of her own as the movements made him gasp and cry out.. 

“You liar,” she said quietly as she began to clean the blood off his arm.

“I never said... it didn’t hurt, Jenna,” he reminded her, his voice tight with pain, He coughed again.

“What’s wrong with his voice, TIM?”

“It’s only a reaction to the smoke and the fire suppression mist.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Only to fires,” John assured her, coughing. 

“Doesn’t sound like it to me.”

“The effect will pass, Jenna,” TIM assured her. 

Jenna nodded and went back to cleaning the wound on John’s arm. It wasn’t as deep as she’d thought. “Hey, this doesn’t look to bad after all. You still want me to wait?”

“Yes. It should be all right until the others get back,” he muttered, closing his eyes.

The sting of the antiseptic-soaked pad as it touched the cut on his temple woke him with a start. “Ow!” he cried and pulled away.

“Teach you to fall asleep on me,” she teased. “You’ve got a pretty good goose-egg there. Looks like you won’t be Jaunting anywhere soon.” She put a small bandage over the cut. “What were you working on anyway?”

“One of the integrator modules... on the mediprobe was drifting. I was trying to correct it.”

Jenna put a series of large gauze pads over the gash in John’s arm and, with his help, started taping them in place. “That can’t be it. I didn’t think that little whosiwhatsis had that much power.”

“It shouldn’t, but that is what I was working on,” he told her. “TIM, have you got any ideas? OW!  
Jenna, please be a bit more careful with that, will you?”

“Sorry.”

“I have not traced the exact source yet, but, once my circuits in the workshop are repaired, I will continue my search and give you my conclusions. For the moment, however, you and Jenna should get some rest.”

“Okay, TIM,” John agreed and tried to get up, but his face paled and Jenna had to grab his uninjured arm to steady him until he found his balance. He looked through the doors into the ruined workshop. “That’s at least a month’s work,” he said sadly.

“Come on, Mad Scientist,” she said quietly then turned him away from the mess and he leaned heavily on her as they walked through the swinging doors to the sleeping quarters. “There’s only one thing you need to do right now and that’s sleep,” she said as they entered his room.

He frowned, as he always did, at her nickname for him. “What are you going to do?”

“I'll take care of the rats, then get some sleep myself,” she answered. She helped him get into the bed and pulled the covers over him. “You need me to “knock you out?” she asked.

He couldn’t suppress a grin. She rarely used the terms he and the other telepaths used. He knew what she meant though. It was something he and Stephen had discovered several years earlier when Kenny had fallen off a bridge and broken his collarbone. It was a way to put someone into a deep, healing sleep just this side of full unconsciousness. It relaxed all the  
muscles, drained away the pain and let the patient sleep peacefully without drugs.

“No, I don’t think I’ll have a problem falling asleep,” he told her. 

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. Thanks for...”

“No problem, Mad Scientist, just doin’ my bit.” She dimmed the lights and left, closing the door behind her.

Jenna returned to the main room and stood behind the hexagonal container that held the main bulk of TIM, even though technically, the computer was all around her.

“You are worried, Jenna.”

“There is something screwy going on,” she said finally.

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know exactly. It’s just weird that’s all. John’s the most careful person I’ve ever met. I just can’t see him lettin’ an accident like that happen.”

“I understand. You are correct, as it happens. It isn’t like John to become distracted when he is working on a project.”

“Why didn’t he Jaunt away?” she asked.

“There wasn’t time,” the computer responded.

“You didn’t see anything?”

“Unfortunately, no, I was not scanning the workshop at the time. I was monitoring the watchdog satellites.”

“What about the automatic systems? Wouldn’t they have gotten something?”

“Yes, Unfor...”

“They’re not working either.” She smiled and patted the nearest dome affectionately. “You’re almost as bad off as John.”

TIM rumbled his agreement.

She shrugged and walked into the damaged workshop to find that the smoke had finally dissipated. She pulled a dustpan and broom from a small thin cabinet. 

“Jenna, your body needs rest as badly as John’s does, if not more.”

“I know. Just let me take care of the rats first,” she insisted as she returned. She moved a small table to the corner of the room, set the cage on it. “These little guys are lucky to have survived,” she muttered as she murmured softly to the rats. She set it jaunting pad then walked over to the food canister, pulled a scoopful of the mixture from it and turned to return to the cage.

She tripped suddenly and nearly fell over a small charred cube. She picked it up. “What’s this?” she asked, holding it up to the nearest receptor. “You want to take it in?”

“Yes, please.”

Jenna placed it on TIM’s cannister and it vanished. 

“Give me a moment, Jenna, my self-repair systems are activated, but the damage was extensive.”

“Take your time, TIM. I’ll go finish with the rats. I think they’re more scared than hurt.” She laughed. “I figure I would be too, if somebody flipped me over like that.”

The biotronic computer considered her comment, then decided it needed no reply and turned his attention back to the object Jenna had found.

Jenna refilled the rats’ water bottle and replaced it, then added some fresh litter to replace what had been spilled. She spoke quietly to the frightened rodents as she poured fresh food into their bowl.

“There you go, guys,” she said quietly with a yawn.

“I have some good news for you, Jenna.”

“What’s up,” she asked as she dropped wearily onto the nearest of the twin couches.

“My automatic repair circuits are working on the communications center, Jenna, I should be able to contact the others soon.”

She yawned. “That’s good to hear. I think I’ll have a little nap now.” She walked back into John’s cabin and pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down - a few moments later she was asleep.

 

Chapter Two  
Time to Pick Up the Pieces.

“What the...!” Jenna cried as she looked up to see a familiar face peering worriedly down at her. “Oh, Hi, Liz. About time you got here, Lady,” she complained, then stood stiffly.

“Jenna, what’s been going on?” Elizabeth M’Bondo asked. “You and John look awful!”

“I’m not sure exactly.” she admitted, then groaned and rubbed her neck as she sat up.“How long have I been asleep, TIM?”

“Nearly five hours.”

“Guess that’s why I’m still tired.” Jenna grinned as she looked over into John’s face. “Ya know, he doesn’t look a day over twelve right now.”

Elizabeth grinned. “How is he now, TIM?”

“He is very weak at the moment, Elizabeth, but the worst of the damage has been repaired. He will recover  
with time,” the computer answered. 

“I just wish there was more we could do for him.”

“We have done all we can for now, Jenna. Without the aid of the mediprobe, it is up to his own body to complete the job.”

Jenna frowned as Elizabeth adjusted the blanket over John’s shoulders.

“It’s just...”

“You did all you could. Let’s not wake him.”

Jenna nodded and they walked into the main room. 

“TIM told me some of what happened, but he didn’t have many details.”

Jenna shrugged. “Wish I had some answers for you, Liz. TIM knows more than I do. I just can’t get over seein’ John lyin’ there, bleedin’ all over the place and the workshop trashed.” She shivered. “It was terrible.”

“I know, I saw the workshop when I Jaunted in. We’ll have it sorted soon. I’m just glad you were able to help him.”

“TIM could tell me what to do to fix the mediprobe.”

"It took John nearly a month to repair it last time, remember and you don’t know a thing about how it works.”

Jenna flopped down onto one of the twin couches. ”You’re right. I just feel so helpless.”

“Me too.” She peered at the other woman worriedly. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Just tired. I’ll be okay.”

“Well, I might as well go see how bad it really is,” Elizabeth said, heading for the damaged room.

“I wouldn’t go in there, if I were you.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.”

“I have a partial answer for you.”

“Let’s hear it, TIM,” Elizabeth said.

“I believe the explosion was caused by...” 

“I crossed an interton into the wrong module,” John said quietly as he entered the room. He was pale and holding tightly  
onto the door frame. He was still bare-chested with the long bandage covering his hand and arm. Moving stiffly, he carefully lowered himself onto the couch beside Jenna and shivered. 

“Dammit, why are you up? I swear, you’re more stubborn than my Nana’s old mule!” Jenna said.

“I’m all right, Jenna,” he insisted.

She opened the seat of the nearest sofa and pulled out a blanket. “Well, if you’re gonna insist on sittin’ in here...” She unfolded the blanket and put it around his shoulders.

He pulled the blanket tighter around him. The Lab, being underground was always a little cold. “Thank you.”

Elizabeth entered and glared at him. “You really should be in bed.”

John shook his head. “I’m just a little tired, Liz. I can’t.. I can’t sleep now, I’ve got to try to make sense out of this.”

“What?” Elizabeth asked.

He touched the bump on his forehead gingerly and winced. “While I was working on the project, I... kept seeing odd explosions in my mind. Nothing like this has ever happened before. That’s what has me worried. I keep focusing on them, but I can't understand what is causing them.

“Well, even though I haven’t been a Tomorrow Person as long as y’all have, I think I know you well enough to know that you don’t get distracted like that, John. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

John nodded. “I know,” he muttered.

* * * * *

Kafia Proshadn stuck her head out the door to see what her sons were up to and her dark eyes opened wide with fear. “Nikolai! Piotr!” she shouted. “Stop that at once!”

The boys froze where they stood and the snowballs they were holding dropped to the ground.

“Come inside!”

The boys obeyed, knowing that if they delayed, their mother had no aversion to whipping.

As soon as they had entered the house, they turned to see their mother’s face was ghostly pale and her body shook with fear.

“Mama?”one of the boys asked worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

Kafia wiped the tears away quickly from her green eyes and set her shoulders. “I am frightened for you. I have heard the stories saying that the KGB have found children very like you and taken them away.”

“Where?”

“Away, Is that not enough? I do not want to lose you.”

“We do not want to leave you, Mama,” Nikolai assured her.

Kafia looked down lovingly at her sons. “So like your father,” she whispered. “You must never use your special gifts where others might see.”

“We were only playing,” Piotr said.

She smiled. “I know, but I have told you before. Other children cannot do these things - it frightens them, and their parents. We have been fortunate that no one has found it profitable to report us. We may not be so lucky in the future. If you must play your games, do it inside where you cannot be seen.”

“We promise, Mama,” the boys cried in unison and wrapped their arms around her.

“We’re sorry,” Piotr said. “We were playing and we forgot.”

She nodded. “I thought so. Well, perhaps no one noticed this time.”

Far down the street, a man in a blue sedan started the car and drive away, speaking urgently into a radio handset.

 

 

Chapter Three  
Contact

John sat up in bed with a gasp. The dream he’d just had wasn’t one he wanted to have repeated anytime soon. Huge, black garbed figures were chasing him through deep snow that was impeding his movements. The area was completely unfamiliar and the terror he’d felt had been almost overpowering.

Elizabeth walked in with a small tray. “Good morning! TIM said you were awake. He sent me in with some breakfast,” she set it on the dresser before she turned to look at him for the first time. Concern flooded into her face.. “What’s wrong? You look  
scared as Hell.”

He looked up into her worried brown eyes and shook his head to clear it. “No, I’m all right. It was just a bad dream.”

“After what happened to you yesterday, I’d be surprised if you DIDN’T have a nightmare or two. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. It was just a dream, Jenna.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Better, a bit sore, but at least my ears have stopped ringing.”

“Bereakfast?”

“Yes, but I’m sure you have better things to do.”

She put the tray into his lap and glared at him until he started eating. “When I was coming down the hall you were saying something about white explosions and kajawbie.”

He shook his head then winced as a stab of pain flared behind his eyes. “What on Earth is kajawbie?”

“It was your dream. Mike and Hsui Tai are here. They came early this morning, but they didn’t want to wake you. Mike said   
to tell you that he was going to see his mother and sister and come back here by lunchtime to help with the clean up.”

“I’m perfectly all right. I wish you lot would stop treating me like an invalid,” he complained.

Jenna came in with a pot of tea and a cup. “Have you tried to use your Special Powers since you woke up?”

He sighed and gave her a sheepish grin. “Point taken.”

“Dammit, John, you scared us bad this time! Can you imagine me Jauntin’ in yesterday, seeing you out cold, bleeding everywhere and the workshop in about a billion pieces? Hsui Tai cried for a good ten minutes when she and Mike got here. We kept telling her you were okay, but you know how sensitive she is. Hell, I haven’t seen Mike that pale since he spent three days  
tossing his cookies with that bout of Kefrundi flu.”

“I wasn’t too keen on the whole incident, either, you know?”

“Do us a favor, don’t do any more dangerous experiments without one of us in the Lab.”

“I’ll get dressed and go start on the workshop.” He started to put the tray aside.

“Not til you finish that breakfast,” she warned. “TIM said to make sure you do so I’m stayin’ here til you’re done.” She sat down in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest and grinned at him. She knew he wouldn’t get out of bed and get dressed with her there.

He sighed. He might be the unspoken leader of the Tomorrow People, but Jenna was notoriously stubborn and right, too, as it happened. After what he’d been through yesterday, he needed to eat and he wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they hadn’t slipped something into his dinner last night to make him sleep.

* * * * *

John was just coming into the main room when Jenna appeared carrying a box of parts. She walked quickly into the damaged workshop and returned empty handed. Mike appeared a moment later. The dark-haired telepath carried a box identical to the one Jenna had deposited in the workshop a few moments earlier.

“What’s all this?” he asked following them into the workshop.

“Just some stuff Timus asked us to pick up at the Trig for you,” Mike answered. “TIM told him what happened and what had been damaged so he sent you some spares.”

“I’ll have to thank him for them,” John said, peering into the boxes. He grinned. “This won’t be just a repair job,” he told them. “Some of these parts are more advanced than the ones I originally had.”

“Well, you better get started then,” Jenna advised. “You want some help?”

John shook his head, his concentration on the contents of the boxes.

“Just like a kid at Christmas,” Mike said with a grin.

* * * * *

Two days later, Piotr and Nikolai were on their way home from their friend’s house. They walked as quickly as they could because they were already very late for dinner and knew their mother would be worried 

As they rounded the corner, not far from home, they broke into a run, startling the huge malamute lying in the yard.

Nikolai saw a flash of white as his brother screamed.

* * * * *

In the Lab, the telepaths were just sitting down to dinner. Elizabeth, Mike, Hsui Tai and Jenna sat on two sides of the long table. They were all talking about the visit Mike and Elizabeth had taken to the Trig that day and the antics of Carol’s youngest son.

“John, are you gonna come and eat, or not?” Jenna shouted toward the workshop.

There was a thud and a muffled curse before the door opened and John emerged.

“Made ya drop somethin’, didn’t I?” she asked with a grin. 

“Honestly, Jenna, haven’t you got any manners?” he complained.

“Nope. I’m an American. Worse, I'm a Texan, remember? I’m a bloody barbarian.” 

She and the others laughed at the remark John had used to describe her only a few days after she’d joined them. It had only been a passing thought and he hadn’t meant her to hear it, but with her unusual ability to pick up stray thoughts she had ‘heard” it and it had caused an argument. He had apologized, but she couldn’t resist teasing him about it from time to  
time. The incident had lead them to the discovery of the extent of the damage caused by the Saps, however so there had been some good to come out of it. 

John glared, picked up his dinner tray and was carrying it to the table when he suddenly cried out, dropped the tray and clutched at his left forearm, gasping and doubling over in pain.

The others rushed over.

“What is it, John?” Elizabeth asked.

When he didn’t answer, Mike grabbed him by the shoulders and walked him over to the nearest sofa and pushed him into a sitting position. 

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Mike said.

Elizabeth tugged at John’s right hand trying to pull it away “Let go, John! Let me see,” she insisted.

Small objects began to fly around the room as John moaned in pain.

“Stop it, John!” Elizabeth said sharply. 

Jenna ducked and swore as a plant whizzed by. She and Mike grabbed John’s arm and pulled. “Damn, he’s stronger than he looks. Hurry it up, Liz.”

“Slap him, Liz!” Mike snapped. “break his concentration!”

“I guess there’s nothing else for it,” Liz said sadly and slapped John hard across the face.

John’s body went limp and he collapsed against back of the couch. The flying objects clattered to the floor.

Elizabeth grabbed John’s left wrist and pushed up his sleeve.

They all gasped at the sight of four large puncture wounds on the inner side of his forearm.

“What the hell happened?” Jenna asked. “Those marks weren’t there an hour ago!”

“Liz, are you sure you healed his arm properly?” Mike asked.

“It was the other arm, Mike,” Elizabeth said in disbelief. 

As they watched, the marks began to disappear and, a moment later, there was no sign that they had ever existed.

“Mike, will you please step aside?” TIM asked, rolling over in his canister. “I would like to examine John.”

Mike moved without a word.

A moment passed, then two as TIM scanned the unconscious telepath.

“Well, TIM?” Elizabeth asked.

“Aside from his previous injuries, I can find nothing physically wrong with him,” TIM answered worriedly.

“What was it made him pass out then?”

“I don’t know, Mike.” the computer answered. 

“Let’s make him comfortable, at least, “ Liz advised.

She and Mike moved John’s limp body so that he was lying down on the sofa and with TIM’s assurance that he would monitor John’s condition, reluctantly went back to their meal.

It was almost ten minutes before John sat up groggily. He groaned. “I’ve never felt anything like that  
before,” he said, rubbing his left arm. “Any ideas, TIM?”

“I’m afraid not, John,” the computer answered. “There was some sort of telepathic contact, but it was too weak and of too short a duration for me to trace it.”

“John didn’t act like it was a weak signal,” Jenna said

“TIM meant it was too weak for him to pick up,” John told her.

“Hell of a way to go about it,” Jenna said.

“And no one else was affected?” John asked, looking around.

They all shook their heads.

“What did it feel like, John?” Hsui Tai asked.

He sighed. “Like teeth... as if a huge dog was chewing on my arm.” He rubbed his forearm again. “I heard somebody screaming and thought it was one of you.”

* * * * *

The doctor took one look at the ugly, ragged gashes in the young boy’s arm, then sighed and began the complicated and delicate job of repairing the torn and mutilated arm.

An hour later, he walked into the waiting room. He looked around.

“Kafia Proshadn?” he asked. He watched as a tall, blond woman walked over to him. “Come with me please,”

She nodded and followed him into a small examination room.

After he closed the door, she asked. “How is he?”

“Your son was very lucky. The wound was messy, but not critical. How did it happen?”

“My sons startled a neighbor’s dog and it attacked.

“Your other son was uninjured then?”

“Yes. He came to get me.” she said quietly.

“I’d like to keep Piotr here for the night” 

She gave him an apprehensive look. “I don’t know I...”

“As a precaution only,” he reassured her. “You can return for him tomorrow.”

Kafia nodded and left the room. The doctor turned and picked up a nearby telephone receiver.

* * * * *

Mike woke in darkness and at first he couldn’t figure out just what had awakened him. Then he heard someone talking. He slid out of bed and into his robe in one easy movement and padded barefoot down the corridor.

He poked his head into Andrew’s room, but heard nothing except the Scottish boy’s soft breathing. He closed the door quietly so as not to wake the younger telepath.

Mike yawned and continued down the corridor past the rooms John kept for visitors, the bathroom and the locker where the A.E. suits were stored. John’s room was at the end of the corridor closest to the Lab’s main room.

At first, there was no sound, then John began to speak softly in a calm clear voice. It took Mike a second to recognize the language. He frowned and closed the door then walked into the main room.

“Hello, Mike. What are you doing up?” TIM asked.

“What time is it, TIM?”

“Four-thirty. Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I was, but John woke me up. He’s talkin’ in his sleep. Can you make me a hot chocolate?”

“Certainly.”

A second later, a cup of steaming cocoa appeared in the center of the three domes.

“If John is disturbing you, perhaps you should wake him,” TIM suggested.

Mike shook his head. “He needs the rest.”

He sat down and sipped at the cocoa. “Is Jenna still up or is she on her way to work?”

“It is only ten-thirty there, She is home. She and Brianna are watching a movie. “Casablanca,” I believe. ”

“Oh, thanks, TIM,” he said and sent a telepathic greeting to Jenna.

//Hey, Mike, what’s doin’?// came her cheerful reply. //Is John all right?//

//Yeah, he’s asleep. Would you mind if I Jaunted over there?//

//Sure. If you want. I’m just trying to find an excuse to avoid doing the dishes.//

//Great, I’ll be there in a minute.//

* * * * *

Kafia started at the loud series of raps on her door. She laid her book face down on the bed and made her way to the door.

Two men in heavy coats stood outside. “You are Kafia Proshadn, mother of Piotr and Nikolai Proshadn?”

She nodded, too frightened to speak.

The smaller of the two men flashed a small card in her direction “I am Major Biersk,” he told her. “Your son, Nikolai, where is he?”

“Asleep in his room. Why?”

Biersk motioned to the other man who started checking the room and returned a moment later leading a barely awake  
Nikolai. 

“What are you doing?” Kafia cried. “You cannot take my boys!” She knew the laws of the State were on their side and Major Biersk could do what he chose. 

“You will tell no one of this,” Biersk ordered.

“There will be questions,” she said. “The school... their friends. This will not go unnoticed.”

Biersk shook his head. There will be no questions,” he assured her as he closed the door behind them.

Kafia sank to her knees, sobbing as she heard the car drive away into the night.

 

Chapter Four  
Search Patterns

“You don’t mind a little light on the subject, do you?” Mike asked when he arrived in Jenna’s apartment.

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized, turning on the lamp on the small table beside her chair.

“Does John know you sit in the dark like that?”

She glared at him. “Does John know you’re a smart ass? Of course he doesn’t know, are you kidding?’ He thinks I’m crazy enough as it is because I won’t quit my job and live in the Lab.” She laughed. “So, what’s got you playin’ night watchman? What is it three a.m in London?”

“Nearly five.” He sat down at the kitchen table and rubbed his eyes.

“What’s up? Besides you?”

“John’s talkin’ in his sleep woke me up and I just can’t get back to sleep.”

Jenna stood and walked to the sink. “Everybody talks in their sleep once in a while, even Brianna. ‘Course she’s signing in her sleep which is really weird to see.”

She pulled two glasses from the cabinet and filled them from a pitcher she’d taken from the refrigerator. She set the glasses down on the table and took a seat.

He picked up the glass she’d placed in front of him and took a sip. “UGH! What is that?”

“Sweet tea.”

He made a face and pushed the glass away from him. “Hell of a thing to do to tea,” he muttered.

“What was he saying?”

“Who?”

“John, who else were we talkin’ about. C’mon, Mike, focus here. Did you listen to what he was saying?”

“I could barely hear him,” he admitted. “It was more like telepathic background noise.”

“Like what I call “static”?” she asked. “Picking up random thoughts as well as intentional sending?”

“I guess it could be.”

She sighed. “John’s had a rough week. Between blowing up a good chunk of the workshop and that “attack” tonight, I wouldn’t blame him if he started climbin’ the walls swearin’ he was a chimpanzee. I’d be more worried if he weren’t having some problems. I think all this has scared him... bad. I haven’t known him as long as you have, but I’ve never seen him so upset.”

Mike nodded. “You’re probably right, but...”

“But what?”

“He was speaking Russian. John doesn’t speak Russian.”

She sighed. “You didn’t tell me that.” Her dark eyes opened wide as a thought struck her. “Hey, Mike, you don’t think it’s...”

“A new Tomorrow Person?” he finished and nodded. ‘It could be, I’m surprised we didn’t think of it before.”

“Things have been just a little nuts lately, you know?”

“Let’s go back to the Lab,” he suggested.

Jenna frowned. “I hate to wake John, especially since he looked so wiped out when he went to bed, but we’re just spinnin’ our wheels here. John and TIMknow more about this stuff than the rest of us.”

She started to leave the room, then turned back. “Let me go tell Brianna I’m going or I’m bound to scare her again.”

He nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Mike followed her, knowing that his presence in the apartment would not disturb Brianna at all.

After six months of living with Jenna and seeing the telepaths appearing and disappearing at all hours of the day and night she wasn’t surprised and, since they had all taken the time to learn sign language, she welcomed them openly.

Mike looked around the apartment’s living room with its well worn, but comfortable, sofa and high-backed recliner. Two walls were covered, floor to ceiling with bookshelves for Jenna’s most prized possessions, books, hundreds of them. On some shelves  
were beautiful, hard cover copies of the classics and others were filled with what she really prized, a special collection of books published before the turn of the century. Other shelves held paperback books in several genres from Mystery to History to Science Fiction. None of her books were valuable in themselves, but Jenna’s love for books as a group made them all priceless. Mike knew that she had also read each and every one of them at least twice.

He picked up a battered, well-read copy of “The Stars, My Destination” that one of the roommates had been reading. He flipped through it without losing the place. He had never really gotten that much out of books. He enjoyed a good car or music magazine once in a while, but he wasn’t a bookworm like John or Jenna - though he knew John preferred Science or History over Science Fiction.

“Come on, Jenna,” he called, replacing the book. 

 

Jenna came out of her bedroom, pulling on a bright orange sweater. “Ready.”

They touched the square section of their Jaunting Bands and vanished.

A few fractions of a second later, both of them stood on the hexagonal Jaunting pad.

“I’ll get John and Andrew,” Mike offered. “Will you get Liz and Hsui Tai?”

She nodded and left the room as Mike did the same.

Within a very few moments all six of the telepaths living on Earth were sitting in their nightclothes on the twin sofas on either side of TIM’s cannister. Jenna and Mike explained their idea to their now wide awake friends.

“What do you think?” Jenna finally asked John

John thought for a moment, then stood. “You may be right, Jenna. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”

“Maybe cause you kept getting knocked on your ass?” Jenna asked with a grin.

He frowned at her comment, then shrugged. “Point taken.

“Now that I think about it, it all makes sense. Mike, you weren’t here when Stephen broke out. We kept hearing him in our dreams.”

“Not to mention Andrew and his Hideous Headless Highlander,” Elizabeth added “He gave us all nightmares.”

“I suppose it could be a new Tomorrow Person,” John agreed.

“But, why aren’t the rest of us picking it up?” Jenna asked.

Mike shrugged. “John didn’t pick up Hsui Tai at first,” he told her.

“And I didn’t pick up anything when you knocked John unconscious that first day, and I was standing right beside him,” Elizabeth reminded her. 

“It happens that way sometimes,” John agreed. “There’s no way of predicting when a Tomorrow Person will Break Out or who they will contact when they do.”

“Could it not have been a series of coincidences?” Hsui Tai asked.

“The pain in my arm was certainly no coincidence,’ John answered, rubbing his arm absently. “It was real enough.”

“Could it have been Tyso or Stephen?” Andrew asked worriedly.

“No, I spoke with them not long after it happened,” TIM said. “It wasn’t either of them. Nor was it Carol, Kenny or Tricia for that matter.”

“So, if it is a new Tomorrow Person, how do we find them?” Jenna asked.

John thought for a moment. “When I had the accident in the workshop, I kept getting a mental image of snowballs bursting apart. As if they were exploding in mid-air.’

“Then tonight you speak Russian, a language you do not know,” Hsui Tai said.

“So, whoever it is, has to be Russian,” Andrew mused.

“Ouch!”

“You’re right, Jenna. This is not going to be easy,” John admitted. “The Russians have been researching into telepathy for years.” 

‘Yeah, like Pavla,” Mike muttered sadly. The incident with Pavla had been three years before and he still felt responsible for her death.

John put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Pavla was one of their victims,” he told Jenna. 

“Do we call in the cavalry?”

“The what?” John asked. Jenna had joined them almost a year before, but he still had trouble understanding the Texan.

Jenna made a face. “Get Stephen, Tricia, Tyso, Carol and Kenny to come give us a hand.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s necessary at this point. I think we can handle things on our own. There are six of us. We can always call them later if necessary.”

“Where do we start?” Andrew asked. 

“Geographically, I’m afraid,” TIM said, A map of Russia appeared on the viewscreen.

Andrew whistled.

“Russia’s got a lot of geography,” Jenna sighed, hopelessly.

"I propose to Jaunt all of you into different areas of Russia in this pattern.” A series of flashing dots appeared on the map.

"John, you are the strongest telepathically so I propose to have you start in the central area.,” TIM suggested. He showed each of them the area they would be searching with John as the focus.

“Put on your A.E. suits,” John told them. “It’s pretty cold there this time of year. Don’t forget to use the Spectrashift. If one of the Russians sees you looking like you’ve just stepped of a spaceship, he may send out an alarm. We don’t want anybody getting  
hurt.”

“And, if somebody does challenge us?” Jenna asked.

“You mind your manners, Jenna. I don’t want you getting shot for being cheeky,” he warned her.

She smiled and saluted. ‘You got it, Mad Scientist.” She headed toward the corridor, singing “I will follow him, wherever he may go!” in a loud, clear soprano.

“Oh, get off, Jenna,” John snapped.

“Hey, Hsui Tai, I made him blush!” Jenna crowed as she bolted down from the room to avoid the pillow John had hurled at her.

“She’s not normal, that one,” John muttered as he went to the locker to get his A.E. suit and slipped it on.

* * * * *

A few moment later, John stood in a wide field of snow. To onlookers he appeared to be clad in a heavy parka, snow trousers, boots and heavy gloves. The Spectrashift created an optical illusion that made it look as if the user wore anything from a suit of armor to a toga. It was a useful tool in situations like this.

//Ready, Mike?// he asked.

//Ready.//

//Hsui Tai?//

//I am ready, John.//

//Liz?//

//Here, John. Even with the thermostat in the A.E. suit, I feel a chill.//

//Jenna?//

//Ready. Anybody seen any reindeer yet?//

//Stop being silly and concentrate,// Andrew snapped. //I’m ready, John.//

//Good. Let’s try a reading first.//

The telepaths concentrated, opening their minds to any unknown telepathic signals,

//Nothin’,// Jenna said. //I’m just pickin’ up static.//

John sighed. Finding a new Tomorrow Person was always difficult. //Move us to a new section, TIM.//

//Acknowledged.//

John reappeared in another area. //Everybody ready?//

He received answers from the group and they began again. Still nothing.

//Let’s try a greeting. Softly at first, we don’t want to scare them.//

Still no response.

TIM Jaunted them to several locations and the telepaths made more attempts with no contact.

//Jaunt us in, TIM.// John said finally. 

//Yeah, I’m hungry.// Jenna sent. //I could eat a Sorson - stems and all.//

He could hear Jenna’s mental swearing and knew she was upset.. Her behavior had bothered him quite a bit just after she’d joined them, but he’d soon learned that Jenna’s constant clowning and wisecracks were her way of dealing with stress. The worse things got, the wilder her comments but he also knew it meant she cared deeply about the situation. 

 

Chapter Five  
Telepath-napped

“You have them?” Serge asked.

“Of course, Comrade.”

“Good. Begin the brain tests, then.”

“So soon?”

“Yes. I do not know how much time we will have before the others come to rescue them.”

“Others? What others?”

“There are others like these boys.”

“Where?”

“I do not know, Fyodore, The one I met three years ago was British. And our agent in the S.I.S. has confirmed three females and four males. Our agent thinks there may be others.”

Serge thought back, his rough features softened as he remembered Pavla Vlasova, the very pretty blond telepath he’d been assigned almost five years earlier. Pavla had escaped on the way to a training exercise and had met this British telepath. They’d had the boy trapped, but he’d teleported away and Serge had only seen him once after that. Pavla had died soon  
afterward. She’d been terminated by his former supervisor, Comrade Stavloski to keep the British from discovering her mission. Serge had been quite fond of Pavla and her death had saddened him, but such was the nature of the job.

* * * * *

”Anything happen last night?” Jenna asked as she stepped off the Jaunting pad the next morning.

Mike shook his head. “Whoever it is, they’ve stopped transmitting.”

Jenna frowned and shot a look at John. “Either that, or we’re too late.”

John nodded, a grim look on his face. “I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe he died after the dog attacked him and that’s why it affected me so strongly.”

:You don’t think he Jaunted into hyperspace?” Elizabeth asked. 

Elizabeth had Jaunted into hyperspace when she broke out and they knew of at least one other telepath who had as well.

John sighed. “If he did, he’s sure to be dead by now, it’s been more than twenty-four hours since the dog attack”

‘Let’s hope for the best, shall we? Perhaps they’re in hospital and...”

‘Perhaps returning to normal activities would take your minds off the problem.”

John nodded. “TIM’s right. If just we sit around waiting for him to contact us, we’ll go mad.” 

The others agreed - only Andrew looked downcast.

“What is wrong, Andrew?” Hsui Tai asked.

“Why do I still have to go to school? It seems a complete waste of time!”

“Stephen said the same thing once and I’ll give you the same answer TIM gave him. ‘There might be questions.’”

“Not if I just dropped out.”

John frowned. “One day, when there are enough of us, we’re going to be the people in charge and a world full of school dropouts just won’t do.” 

“But TIM could...”

“Yes, TIM could, but he won’t.” John said sternly.

“He teaches Hsui Tai.”

“No one is aware of Hsui Tai’s existence, Andrew,” TIM answered. “Creating a record of her existence would cause the same questions we’re trying to avoid.” 

“School isn’t just a place to learn, Andrew,” Elizabeth put in. “It’s a place to be with people your own age.”

The Scottish boy began to protest, but Mike shook his head. “It won’t do any good, Andrew. I tried the same argument too. John and Liz are right. If you don’t have Sap friends you start to get isolated and get out of touch with the real world.”

Andrew sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

John smiled. “Good. Time you were going then,” he said glancing at his watch. “We’ll try and locate this new Tomorrow Person after you get back.”

Andrew gathered his books and went down the corridor for something.

“I’d better get back too,” Jenna told them. “I told Dan I was headin’ for the restroom and, if I don’t go back soon, he’ll think I fell in. I’ll be back in four or five hours. Depends on what happens on the audit,” she said and stepped up onto the Jaunting pad and vanished a second later.

“What are you two going to do today?” Elizabeth asked glancing at Mike and Hsui Tai as she pulled on her coat.

“I’ve got rehearsal this afternoon,” Mike answered. “And I need to get a birthday present for my sister before I forget.”

“And I am going to visit Masutan,” Hsui Tai said, her dark eyes sparkling as she spoke of her old friend from the temple of Shansu.

“Enjoy yourself,” Elizabeth said. She turned to the corridor. “Come on, Andrew. You’ll be late if you don’t hurry.”

Within a very few moments, only John stood in the room. He walked into the workshop and continued the repairs.

* * * * *

Henry Dodd stood on a street corner. His eyes darting from face to face as the pedestrians wandered past him. He was searching for a face from a photograph taken nearly three years earlier. 

Dodd wasn’t the type most people noticed. If they saw him at all, they assumed he was an office worker of some sort. It was a perfect situation for him since he was working for both the KGB and the SIS.

Some people tended to think of spies as dashing, handsome figures like James Bond, but most weren’t the type that fiction writers were so fond of. Henry Dodd was a short, overweight, balding, bespectacled, mousey looking fellow that no one would believe was one of the top spies in two countries.

Henry had rarely left London as a matter of fact. His wife, Evelyn, had his dinner on the table at six sharp and neither she nor his three children knew what he really did for a living as an interpreter at the Russian embassy.

Serge had called him early that morning and told him to expect a package within two hours so Henry had called in sick and waited. When the package arrived, he found a photo of a fifteen or sixteen year old boy inside. A coded message was wrapped around a peculiar looking spray bottle. The message told him to locate the boy and spray the liquid into his face, then make  
contact with an agent who would come and pick him up. He was to do all this with as much discretion as possible.

Dodd had been watching the passing faces for nearly two hours now with no success.

He glanced down at his watch for a split second and as he looked back up again, he saw the boy. He was a few years older, but it was obviously the same boy.

Dodd took a step forward. “Excuse me. Have you got the time?” he asked.

The young man looked down at his watch as Dodd pulled the spray bottle from his pocket and sprayed the liquid quickly into the boy’s face and replaced it as the dark haired boy collapsed to the pavement. Dodd bent to check him and found that the boy was unconscious and barely breathing.

A crowd started to gather as he dashed off to call the agent that would come to collect the boy.

A few moments later, an ambulance arrived and the boy was quickly loaded aboard and the vehicle sped  
off.

Dodd pulled a newspaper from his pocket and walked unnoticed once again in the crowded city street.

 

Chapter Six  
Wake-up Call

Piotr sat on the corner of the bed looking very much like the frightened little boy he was.

A huge man had come in a long time ago and taken Nikolai away.

He thought again of the strange images that had formed in his mind when the dog attacked him.

It had been a large room with funny shiny walls and a large six-sided table like thing with three white domes on it. Several faces all looking very worried were staring down at him. A very pretty woman with dark skin spoke sternly, but he couldn’t hear her words. Suddenly, she slapped him. The images vanished as if he’d closed his eyes and his arm hurt and he was screaming.

He bought his knees up to his chest being careful not to bump his still sore arm and wished his mother were here. ‘No,’ he corrected himself, ‘I wish I was with her.’

* * * * *

John sat at one of the tables in the workshop peering through the eyepiece of an electron microscope. “There, that’s got it,” he said, pulling the slide from the machine. “Take it up please, TIM.”

The microscope rose slowly into the ceiling.

John stood and walked to the damaged mediprobe unit and, taking a jeweler’s loupe from his pants’ pocket, he laid onto mechanic’s dolly and slid himself under the big metal and plexiglass unit.

After the third attempt to power up the unit failed, he slid out and sat up.

“TIM, have you heard from Mike?”

“Not recently. He may still be rehearsing at the disco. He has a ‘gig’ on Saturday.. Do you need his assistance?”

John sighed. “No, not really.”

“Elizabeth and Andrew are about to return -perhaps they could help.”

John smiled. “Thanks, TIM.” He slid back under the mediprobe.

Elizabeth and Andrew stepped of the Jaunting pad a moment or so later and Andrew went to his room to put away his books.

John rolled out from under the mediprobe and sat up. “Hello, Liz. How’d it go today?”

She sighed. “Just fine - until somebody put a snake in my desk,” she answered tiredly then giggled.

He laughed. “Did it frighten you?”

“No, but I repaid the favor later.”

“Oh? How?”

“I gave them a pop quiz.”

“Cruel.”

“Yes,” she admitted with a grin. “What have you been up to today?”

“Still trying to repair the mediprobe. Some of the parts were more damaged than I thought. I’ll have to Jaunt back to the Trig for some replacements.” 

* * * * *

Piotr sat on the edge of the bed, crying when Nikolai returned accompanied by the huge man with the hard face.

“Why are you crying, boy?” the man asked.

“He’s scared. We want to go home,” Nikolai told him unhappily.

“Soon,” the man promised and walked out.

* * * * *

Mike’s eyes teared as he squinted up at the rectangles of bright lights. 

His head ached and throbbed as if someone had tried to crack his skull. He took a quick mental inventory and learned that his head wasn’t the only thing that hurt. His stomach was doing flips and all his muscles ached.

He tried to reach a hand up to his aching temples only to find that his wrists and ankles were encircled by thick, cold, metal clamps. Then for the first time, he noticed that his shoes, Jaunting band, watch and all his clothing except the thin jeans he’d put on that morning were missing and the clamps weren’t the only thing that was cold.

He tried to Jaunt away, but nothing happened. He tried it again, but still nothing happened. He stared at the clasps and concentrated, trying to move the heavy metal, but again nothing happened.

//TIM?// he called telepathically.

There was no reply.

//John?// he almost yelled in his mind, but still there was no answer.

Then he felt the peculiar boxed in feeling and groaned. “Oh no, not again,” he said, knowing now that someone had exposed him to one of the derivatives of Synaptrill, the drug Saps used to knock out the special powers of the Tomorrow People.

A tall, rough featured man came in and Mike recognized him as the man who’d been with Pavla Vlasova, but decided to feign ignorance until he knew what the big Russian wanted.

“Hello, Mike,” the man said in a thick accent.

“Who are you? What ‘chu want?” he asked.

“You are Mike?” he asked.

“I don’t know who you’re looking for, Mister. My name is Chris O’Reilly.”

“Do not play games with me, boy,” the big Russian warned.

“I ain’t playin’ games. I don’t know who you’re talkin’ about.”

“My name is Serge Kerogin.”

“I’m very happy for you,” Mike said and looked away. The Russian’s face was bringing back too many painful memories.

“Three years ago, you and your friends were involved in a search for a girl named Pavla Vlasova. You helped her to get away.”

Mike’s stomach lurched at the mention of that name. It had taken a long time for him to get over the worst of the feelings of guilt for the pretty telepath’s violent death and even longer to rid himself of the nightmares. Dreams that woke him with  
a start as he relived the horrible sight of Pavla crashing again and again through the second story window and her body exploding in mid-air. She had jumped because he wouldn’t leave her and she didn’t want him to be injured or killed when the small explosive charge was set off by her boss, Comrade Stavloski.

“Answer me, boy!” Serge said, giving Mike a stinging slap across the face.

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about!”

Serge scowled. “So, you are a stubborn one,” he said, then gave Mike a hard look. “I can make this very painful for you if you do not cooperate,” he warned.

Mike gave him a look, but said nothing.

“Are you Mike?” Serge roared.

“No! I told you. My name is Chris. Christopher Charles O’Reilly.”

Serge brought down a big fist hard into Mike’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

The KGB agent waited a moment to let Mike regain control of his breathing before he asked again and received the same answer. Serge was bringing his fist down to give Mike another blow when he suddenly remembered something Pavla had said. He lowered his fist to his side and dashed out of the room.

Mike sighed with relief as he laid his head back onto the cold metal table, wishing he hadn’t decided to walk from the little shop to Derek’s house.

* * * * *

John looked at his watch. It was long past the time they had agreed upon to meet to resume the search for the new Tomorrow Person and neither Mike, nor Jenna had returned.

//Mike?// he called. //Mike, where are you?//

//What’s up? You sound worried,// Jenna answered.

//You haven’t seen Mike, have you?//

//Not since I was there earlier while y’all were eating.// She yawned. //I was just about to pop over there when you started yelling for Mike.//

//I was NOT yelling,// he answered defensively.

//If you woke me up, you were yellin’. You gave me one hell of a blast.//

//Jenna...//

//Oh, shush. I know already. Telepaths don’t cuss, they just think dirty. I’m on my way and before you say it: I’m late.//

//I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.//

//Whatcha want for nothin’. Besides, did anybody ever tell you you talk funny?//

//Just shut up and get over here.//

She appeared a few moments later. “You bellowed?”

The telepaths broke out laughing at that. Despite the fact that they were beginning to get worried about Mike’s silence, Jenna’s playful insolence and out right silliness helped to break the mood of concern that was starting to form around the telepaths seated around TIM.

“Looks like heap big pow wow, Kemosabe,” she said, giving John a gentle slap on the back and a wide grin.

“Oh, turn it up, Jenna. We’ve got work to do with or without Mike. Are you ready?”

“Just got to put on my fancy pajamas and tie up my mop. Be ready in three minutes. Why don’t you keep tryin’ to reach the pupstar,” she said as she headed for the suit locker.”

“That’s pop star,” Andrew shouted at her. “You know, John, I wonder about her sometimes.”

John gave him a quick smile. “Andrew, Jenna’s just as worried about Mike and this new Tomorrow Person as we are. She just doesn’t react the same way we do. Her jokes and mad comments are a form of protection for her.”

“Jenna has never said she was worried,” Hsui Tai said.

“No, and I doubt she ever will, Hsui Tai,” Elizabeth said, setting her helmet onto the floor. “That’s just not the way Jenna does things.”

John chuckled. “Actually, I hope she never stops those insane comments of hers. ‘Pow wow, indeed. TIM, please ring up Derek, will you?” he asked. “I wonder if Mike might be over there.”

A moment later, TIM announced that Mike’s friend was on the line.

“Derek, this is John. Is Mike with you?”

“No and he didn’t show up for rehearsal either. Luckily Phil can sub on the drums, but you tell him he better be at the Lion’s Den at nine-thirty on Saturday.”

“I’ll tell him as soon as I can.”

“Why? Don’t you know where he is?”

“No, and we usually know exactly where he is.”

“You must have radar, because I can’t even keep track of him when he’s standing right in front of me.”

“Something like that. I know Mike wouldn’t miss tonight if he could help it.”

“That doesn’t help us much, does it?”

“Sorry, Derek, I’ll have Mike call you as soon as he can.”

“You do that.”

 

Chapter Seven  
Interrogations

Serge returned some time later with a very small, very frightened boy.

“Now, you will tell me your name or I will cut his throat,” Serge threatened holding a thick blade against the boy’s neck.

Mike’s blue eyes went wide with fear then he sighed. “Mike Bell,”

“And you helped Pavla escape?”

“No.”

Serge pressed the blade harder against the boy’s neck. “Tell the truth, boy.”

“I am,” he said resignedly. “I tried to get her to go with me, but she wouldn’t, she was too scared.”

“Then, how did she get away?”

“It was the SIS, not us. They put her on a brain reading machine and your boss killed her,” he said finally, his voice tight with sorrow.

“You are an SIS teleporter.”

Mike shook his head.

“Who do you work for?”

Nobody. We don’t have anything to do with them or any group.”

“How many of you are there?”

“I don’t know.”

Serge gave him a look and the smaller boy cried out in pain and Mike could see Serge’s hand squeezing the boy’s upper arm.

“How many?”

“Six!” Mike cried. “Let him alone.”

“Where are your headquarters?”

“I don’t know.”

Serge frowned.

“I’m telling the truth. All I know are the coordinates and they won’t help you, we use a different system.”

"Why?”

“They’re figured from the Galactic Core,” Mike lied. “I can’t refigure them, I don’t have the equipment.”

“Good enough,” Serge said, glad he’d gotten even that much from the telepath. “Now, you will do as I ask, or I will kill the boy.”

Mike shook his head. “I can’t kill or spy for you.”

Serge pulled his big knife away. “Nothing like that. Just train the boy.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

Mike shrugged. “He’s not a telepath.”

Serge pulled a Styrofoam ball from his pocket. “Show him, Nikolai,” he said, tossing it into the air.

Suddenly, it exploded into a thousand small fragments.

Mike frowned. Obviously this was the boy they’d been searching for. “That’s a good trick. What do you want me to teach him.”

“Telepathy, teleportation and telekinesis.”

“I need to be able to use my special powers to do all that.”

Serge shook his head. “That is not possible. You will have to make do without them.”

Mike gave him a look then shrugged, not an easy thing to do with your hands in thick metal clamps at your hips. “Then, I can’t help you. The things you want him to learn have to be taught by a fully active Tomorrow Person and I’m not.”

Serge held the knife against the boy’s throat again. “You want to see the boy die?”

Mike laughed. “You won’t kill him. If he is a telepath, your boss would send you to Siberia so fast your head would spin.” Mike suddenly knew how to get both himself and the boy away from the big Russian. “I been thinkin’. There is one thing I can do for you.”

“What is that?”

“I can tell you how strong his powers are going to be.”

“How?”

Mike squirmed uncomfortably on the cold table. “Let me up and I’ll show you.”

Serge walked to the wall intercom and spoke quickly into it in Russian.

There was a low hum and the bands around Mike’s wrists and ankles slowly slip open. The dark haired telepath sat up and  
rubbed his wrists, then slid off the table. He help up his hands and indicated that the boy do the same. As soon as their hands touched, Mike sent a short mental greeting.

//What is happening?//

//Mind talk. Telepathy. Your name is Nikolai?//

//Yes.//

//I’m Mike. We haven’t got much time. I want you to concentrate. Think hard. Imagine that your mind is a fist, a big one. Now, open it slowly. That’s good, Nikolai. Go slowly. Good! There, it’s all over now.//

//What was that?//

//We call it “breaking out.” Now that’s done, are you helping these thugs?//

//No, we aren’t.//

//We?//

//They have my brother, Piotr, here, too. They keep threatening to kill us. They want us to...//

//I know what they want. I’ve dealt with this lot before. Listen, Nikolai, I have friends who can help us get away from these idiots, but I can’t contact them. I need you to help me,// Mike explained quickly.

//Then, how are we talking now?//

//It’s a little trick I’ll teach you as soon as we get out of this. Now, will you help me?//

//Yes.//

//Good. My friend’s name is TIM. If you concentrate hard and keep calling his name in your mind, then he’ll be able to find you and you can help my other friends find us. You do know how to get here from where they’re keeping you, don’t you?//

//Of course.//

Mike and Nikolai didn’t see Serge as he put his hands on their wrists and prepared to pull them apart. 

Suddenly, Mike felt a deep burning feeling at the back of his mind.

//Separate now, Nikolai!// he almost shouted telepathically as he began to pull his mind away.

Even with the split second he’d had to pull his mind away from the Russian boy’s, the tearing he felt when Serge pulled their hands apart still caused him quite a bit of pain. He cried out and clutched at his head for a second before he turned to Serge, his blue eyes like ice. “You want kill us both?” he shouted angrily.

“No.”

“Then don’t ever touch us when we’re doing that.”

“What were you doing?”

“Just a little test to see how strong his mind is.”

“And is it?”

Mike thought about it. If he told Serge that Nikolai’s powers were weak, he might kill both boys and he had no idea what might happen if he told him the boy’s were strong so he decided to go for the middle ground. “He needs training, but I expect he’ll  
be as good as I am one day.”

Serge nodded with approval and led the boy away, being careful to lock the door behind him despite Mike’s promise that he wouldn’t try to escape.” 

Mike was shivering now because he was still without a shirt and shoes. He rubbed at his arms to try and warm himself.

Serge returned a few minutes later with his shirt, shoes, socks and sweater. “Here, Nikolai told me you were cold. We don’t want you getting sick.” 

Mike gave him a look and quickly got dressed.

* * * * *

John stood and began to pace. He and the others had tried to contact Mike for several hours that evening, but there had been no reply. It was almost five in the morning and he had finally convinced the others to go on to bed around midnight. Talking them into going to bed hadn’t been easy since they were all very worried about their friend. He’d finally told them that it wouldn’t do any of them any good to just sit around waiting for something to happen and they’d reluctantly headed for bed, muttering under their breath.

“John, you’re gonna wear a trench in the floor if you keep that up,” Jenna warned as she came in, carrying a mug of hot coffee in each hand.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said, taking the cup she offered him and sitting down

She shrugged and tossed her head to get her long, honey colored hair behind her shoulders. “I was,” she told him quietly, sitting on the sofa opposite him. “I had a weird dream and I can’t get back to sleep,” she admitted finally.

He gave her a quizzical look. “Really?” he asked. Jenna’s dreams were usually pretty strange and it was from her wild dreams that many of her best stories had originated.

“Don’t really remember all of it this time. But it was something about you, me and Mike riding horses in some sort of competition. We were all wearing those funny britches with the big thighs and those weird looking hats.”

“Jodhpurs? Me?”

“Whatever they call them. You two looked funny.”

“Did we win?”

She grinned. “I doubt it, the way you kept fallin’ off your horse.”

John acted insulted. “You’ve never seen me ride, Jenna. I’m actually quite good on a horse.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said, laughing. She yawned.

“You’d better get back to bed.”

“Can’t. Besides I just realized that it’s only eleven back home.”

“You don’t have to stay here, you know?”

“And let you wear a hole in the floor? No way, Jose!” she exclaimed. The cup fell from her hand as she stood quickly. She turned toward the Jaunting pad, then turned back to face him. “Besides, I’m just as worried as you are, dammit, and you know it!” Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks.

John set his cup onto the floor and went to stand beside her. He knew better than to put an arm around her as he might have done with Elizabeth or Hsui Tai at a time like this. He knew Jenna didn’t like it, so he put a hand on her shoulder instead and squeezed gently.

The two of them stood like that for a long time before Jenna nodded and returned the gesture. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I did it again, didn’t I?” 

“Yes.” He gave her an understanding smile and nodded quietly. “Okay now?”

“Yes, I guess so. Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “TIM, don’t you have anything on Mike?”she asked

“Not at this time. I am checking police and hospital records at the moment.”

“Anything interesting?” John asked.

“I have found only one report of interest. A boy fitting Mike’s description collapsed in the street and was taken to hospital, however, nothing came of it. I have scanned all available records and there is no mention of anyone being admitted from that area.”

“Do you think it could have been Mike, TIM?”

“Indeed it might have been, Jenna, but I’m sorry to say the report is almost twelve hours old.”

John was thinking now, remembering Pavla. “That’s just about the same trick the SIS used to get Pavla away from the Russians. As near as damn it.”

Jenna gave him a puzzled look. “Huh?”

John was nodding now. “Major Turner,” he said quietly. “Get dressed, Jenna. We’re going to go see someone.”

“John, it’s five thirty in the a and m. Are you crazy?”

“Maybe I am,” he admitted. He headed for his quarters. “Get a move on.”

 

Chapter Eight  
Telepath, Telepath, Who’s Got the Telepath

An hour later, they stood in an office in front of a tall woman with short, blonde hair.

“All right, Turner, what have you done with Mike?” John snapped.

The woman frowned. “Who?”

“Mike,” John repeated.

“Nothing,” she said. “I haven’t seen him since that affair with the Russian girl, Pavla Vlasova.”

John eyed her suspiciously. He’d been tricked by the SIS agents too many times to trust Major Turner easily. Beside him, Jenna was starting to get aggravated with the stony faced agent.

“Turner, somehow I find it hard to believe you,” John said, grabbing Jenna’s hand and squeezing it quickly before she could start something. //Let me handle this.// he told her with a quick burst of telepathy.

//If you say so, but I don’t like this... person.//

“We haven’t got him, John. If he’s missing, perhaps I can help you find him.”

John shook his head. Turner was a dangerous lady and he knew it. She was much more dangerous than Tricia Conway had  
been before she became a Tomorrow Person. Tricia had, at least, had a bit of compassion, a quality that Turner lacked. “No thank you, Major,” he said. “I think we can manage on our own.”

Turner frowned, then gave him a smile. “You don’t trust me, do you, John?”

“We can’t afford to, Turner,” he said. “Our lives depend on knowing who to trust and who not to.”

“We all have our duties,” Turner said, “and responsibilities.”

“And ours is to stay alive,” John said.

John and Jenna returned to the Lab downhearted.

Sometime later, TIM announced that he was being contacted.

“Is it Mike?”

“No, John, it is not. The emanations are very weak.”

“Let’s link, Jenna,” John said, quickly putting his hands onto one of TIM’s three domes.

Jenna repeated his gestures and opened her mind and felt John doing the same. Then she heard it as well. A small voice rang in her mind, calling TIM’s name over and over.

//Who are you?// John asked.

//I am Nikolai.//

//How did you find out about us?//

Jenna remained silent and listened, her dark eyes flashing.

//I was told to call TIM until he answered. Are you TIM?//

//I’m John. Who told you to call TIM?//

The voice stuttered. //M-Mike.//

John’s face lit up. //Where is he? Is he all right?//

//We don’t know where we are. I think he’s all right.//

//Nikolai, do something for me. Keep talking to me so we can come and help you. Are you getting tired?//

//No.//

//Do you know why Mike can’t contact us?//

//No, only that he can’t.//

//Don’t worry, Nikolai. We’ll deal with that when we find you,// John promised. //How old are you?//

//Almost thirteen.//

Elizabeth was beside John now. Her dark face bright and happy after all the hours of worry.

“Have you got the coordinates yet?” Hsui Tai asked.

“Yes, Hsui Tai, I can Jaunt you to him whenever you wish.”

//Nikolai, we’ve found you. We’ll be with you soon. Don’t let them know you’ve been in contact with us.//

//I won’t.//

John took his hands away from the dome, a broad smile on his face. “Well, folks, we’ve finally got a lead.”

Jenna let out a war whoop that would have terrified ever the bravest Apache warrior.

John covered his ears. “Settle down, Jenna,” he said, laughing.

Elizabeth’s face was serious now. “Now that we know where he is, what do we do? We can hardly go Jaunting in, not knowing what we’re getting into.”

Andrew nodded. “Aye, it could be a trap.”

John frowned. “TIM, do you have any blueprints for the area where they’re holding Mike and Nikolai?”

“I’m afraid not, John,” the computer answered. “The Russians are not known for publishing the floor plans of their installations.”

“All right, we’ll go in pairs. Hsui Tai, you stay in the lab. Andrew and Liz, you Jaunt directly to Nikolai’s coordinates. Be careful, Russian guards shoot on sight.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Where are you and Jenna going?”

“I’m going to have TIM Jaunt us to an area near Nikolai’s coordinates. I want to do a reccy, see if we can find Mike. We’ll need our stun guns.”

“And the matter transporter bands,” Andrew said, going off to get them.

“Right. Nikolai hasn’t learned to Jaunt and, according to Nikolai, Mike’s lost his special powers somehow.”

Andrew returned with several of the thin wristbands.

He handed one to each of the other telepaths who slipped it onto their wrists with a snap. He passed a stun gun each to Jenna, John and Elizabeth and the four telepaths headed for the Jaunting pad.

* * * * *

When John and Jenna appeared in the corridor of the Russian installation, they looked around, then moved cautiously down the corridor.

//Watch yourself, Jenna,// John warned her telepathically.

//You got it,// she answered with a nod.

//Nikolai?// John asked, probing gently with his mind.

//Who is that?//

//It’s John. Someone should be with you shortly.//

//They’re here. I like them.//

//John?//

//Yes, Liz.//

//We’ve got two boys here.//

//What?//

//Twins, Jenna,// Andrew said. //Identical twins at that.//

John shot a quick smile at Jenna. //Liz, see if they can take you to where the Russians are holding Mike.//

//Okay, John.//

//Come on, Jenna,// he said, tapping her on the shoulder and pointing in the direction he wanted to go.

She nodded.

The telepaths didn’t see the man in Russian uniform as he aimed and fired the small pistol shaped device he held twice, then watched as the dark haired man and his companion collapsed to the concrete floor.

* * * * *

Andrew and Elizabeth followed the twins down the corridor. Luckily, no one appeared to challenge them so far.

Suddenly one of the twins, the one with the bandaged arm, grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and pulled her back around the corner.

//What is it?// she asked telepathically.

//Someone is coming,// the other twin sent. //It’s Serge. If he sees us, he will kill us.//

//Then, we’ll wait until he’s gone,// Elizabeth told them.

Since the twins didn’t speak English yet, telepathy was the only means of communication the young people could use.

After a few minutes, the big Russian left the room and walked briskly down the corridor away from them.

Elizabeth sighed in relief. //Where is Mike, Nikolai?//

//There,// the Russian boy answered, pointing at a featureless door around the corner. 

Andrew moved to it quickly and stared at the door, concentrating on moving the tumblers in the latch. There was a soft click and Elizabeth pushed the door open.

The four young people entered cautiously. Elizabeth’s eyes went wide with worry. //He’s not here.//

//This is the room Serge brought me to,// Nikolai sent, confusion on his face.

//Could John and Jenna have reached him first?// she asked. //John?//

There was no response.

//John? Jenna?//

Still nothing.

//That’s it! We’re going back to the Lab,// she announced, quickly.

//What about the others?// Andrew asked.

//We’ll worry about them later. We can’t let the Saps catch all of us.//

Andrew nodded and handed the twins the matter transporter bands and showed them how to put them on.

//Jaunt us in, TIM, and hurry!// Elizabeth sent.

The four young people vanished just as a Serge rounded the corner with an armed guard and Mike.

* * * * *

Serge looked through the small window into a dimly lit room. The bodies of a young man and woman were sprawled on the floor. “How did they get into the building?” he asked the guard who had captured the two young people and locked them into one of the secure rooms in the building.

“We don’t know, sir,” the guard answered. “They were in the north corridor.”

Serge nodded and sighed. “We cannot interrogate them until they regain consciousness. Lock the door and turn off the lights - that should disorient them if they wake up before we’re ready to talk to them. The drug will stop them from teleporting away.”

The guard nodded. 

Serge frowned at the smaller man. “If they escape, you will pay.”

The guard swallowed and nodded again. “Yes, sir.”

* * * * *

John stirred and rose groggily, his head aching. When he opened his eyes, he could see nothing but darkness. He quickly felt for his stun gun and Jaunting band, but his holster and left wrist were empty.

He reached out, trying to explore around him. He had been dumped rather roughly, judging by the way his body felt, onto a cold cement floor. 

John’s exploring hands bumped against something soft and warm. He backed away in surprise. He took a deep breath and felt the area again. This time he felt a shoulder, a mass of hair and a soft cheek.

Carefully, he ran his fingers down the shoulder, then the arm to the hand. A familiar ring circled one finger. The ring he had given Jenna last Christmas with the holographic harlequin on the top.

He shook Jenna’s shoulder gently, whispering her name.

She groaned and sat up quickly. A bit too quickly for her throbbing head. She laid back down again, moaning.

“You’ll be okay in a few minutes.”

“What hit us?”

“Teleparatrill, maybe, or Varlumin. Lucky for us it wasn’t Synaptrill.”

Jenna muttered something very unladylike as she sat up again, a bit slower this time. “What’s with the lights? They forget to pay the light bill?” 

“I’ve no idea. Our Jaunting bands are gone.”

“I noticed.”

“We couldn’t use them anyway, our special powers are gone as well.”

“I noticed that, too. I feel all boxed-in.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll get out of this,” he promised her. He didn’t mention the missing weapons.

* * * * *

Back in the Lab, Andrew and Elizabeth stood looking over Nikolai’s shoulder as he drew a series of squares and rectangles on a piece of heavy paper. It was a diagram of the Russian base. He stopped for a moment and asked his twin something in a quick burst of Russian.  
Piotr nodded and pointed to a square Nikolai had drawn in the far left corner.

TIM had scanned both boys for duplicates of the tiny explosive device that had killed Pavla Vlasova. He had removed and destroyed the device he’d found embedded in Piotr’s arm. It has obviously been implanted in the wound after the dog’s attack and, since the Russians had given him little or no antibiotics, the boy’s arm had become infected in the nearly three days since the dog had attacked him and was an ugly mess before Elizabeth had repaired it.

The computer had to scan Nikolai twice before he was satisfied that the boy carried no device.

//There,// Nikolai sent, handing the paper up to Elizabeth. //It’s as close as possible.//

Elizabeth smiled. //That’s fine. Where do you suppose they’re holding Mike, John and Jenna?//

Nikolai shrugged. //I don’t know.//

She nodded, then turned to TIM’s canister. “TIM, I know this sounds silly, but using the floor plan the twins drew, can you Jaunt the four of us to different sections of the building, give us a few seconds to look ‘round then Jaunt us back out again?”

“”I could, Elizabeth, but there are two reasons why that plan is inadvisable.”

“Why, TIM?”

“First, there would be a tendency toward disorientation.”

“And second?”

“If you lot start flitting about searching, the Russians could, and probably would, react violently.”

Elizabeth nodded. “And kill the three of them,” she sighed.

“We can’t just leave them!” 

“That is understood, Andrew, but another method must be considered.”

“What about the Spectrashift?” Hsui Tai asked.

“I doubt the Russians would believe you or I are soldiers.”

“But they’d believe me,” Andrew said excitedly.

The older telepath shook her head. “It’s too dangerous, Andrew. Besides’ you’re too young.”

Andrew was angry now. “Ever since I broke out, I’ve heard the same thing. Think back! What was John doing when he was my age?” 

She sighed. “All right, Andrew.”

“Then, I can go?”

Elizabeth stood and walked toward the viewscreen. “I didn’t say that.”

“With John... away, you’re in charge,” Andrew reminded her. “If you say no, I’ll stay here, but at least give me the same chance you’d give Mike or Stephen.”

“Very well, you can go,” she said after a long moment. “But I want you to take someone with you.”

“Who?”

“An old friend of ours,” she said. “You go, get changed, I’ll get in touch with him.”

 

Chapter Nine  
Into Light Darkness

Andrew nodded to the tall, red-haired man who stood beside him.

Chris Harding had been involved with the telepaths for several years, but he wasn’t one of them. Chris had, at John’s and Elizabeth’s urging, finished school and become a doctor in the years since Tyso had broken out. Now, he was eager to be off. 

“What’s the hold up, TIM?”

“I am getting peculiar readings from the coordinates I Jaunted John and Jenna to.”

“What sort of readings?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m not sure. They’re very odd.”

“Come on, TIM,” Chris said without moving from the Jaunting pad.

“Very well, Chris,” TIM said finally as he activated the Spectrashift.

Piotr and Nikolai shrank back in fear.

Elizabeth smiled and glanced over at the two young men on the Jaunting pad. //It’s all right,// she reassured the twins. //They have to look like that or they might get hurt.//

Andrew and Chris now looked like Russian soldiers, carrying Russian guns. Earlier, they had wrapped matter transporter bands onto their ankles. 

“Ready, Chris?” TIM asked.

The tall Sap nodded quickly.

* * * * *

“Are you hungry?” Jenna asked.

“You’re thinking about food at a time like this?” 

“No, I just remembered, I’ve got a candy bar in my pocket. I’ll split it with you, if you want,” she offered.

“No, thanks.”

“What do you think’s goin’ on?”

“I don’t know. They can’t keep us in the dark forever.”

“Oh, you’re cute,” she said, sarcastically.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

She was silent for a moment. “No, YOU wouldn’t,” she admitted.

“I just wish we had our special powers back, that’s all,” he muttered, dejectedly.

He could feel Jenna moving around beside him. “What are you doing?”

“I thought I might have picked up some of the hotel’s matches, but...” She laughed as a faint light appeared.

“What’s that?”

“Brianna’s penlight,” she said, quickly. “She asked me to pick up some batteries. I guess I forgot I still had it.”

“Why didn’t you think about that earlier?”

“I thought it was a ballpoint,” she admitted, then put the thin cylinder into his hand. “Now that we’ve got a light, shall we go exploring?” she asked, imitating his British accent as she stood carefully, her joints stiff from sitting on the hard cement floor  
for so long. “Come on, ya old buzzard, You need a hand?”

“No, thank you,” he said, standing on his own. “I’m not that much older than you are,” he reminded her. He shone the tiny light around in a wide arc. The light barely penetrated the darkness, but at least it was a light.

“Which way do we go, George?” she asked. “Seems to be several possibilities to choose from.”

“Take my hand, Jenna, I don’t want us to get separated. Let’s just walk forward until we find a wall.”

* * * * *

Mike sat on the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees. He’d been trying to contact TIM for most of the three hours since Serge had let him go to the restroom, but he’d had no success. His mind was closed and he couldn’t open it.

He hated the funny boxed-in feeling, all of the telepaths did. It was strange to suddenly be cut off from the warmth that emanated from the other telepaths. He was cold now, inside and out. Mike was in the middle of trying to contact TIM again when Serge burst into the room.

The big Russian was angry. “Where are Nikolai and Piotr?” he asked as he grabbed Mike by the arm and literally threw him onto the big metal table.

“I don’t know,” Mike said quietly, rubbing his shoulder. “Who’s Piotr?”

“What have your friends done with them?” Serge asked, pulling his knife from its sheath.

“Serge, I don’t know?” Mike insisted, backing away.

The KGB agent approached slowly and Mike tried desperately to keep the metal table between himself and the crazed Russian.

“Guards!” Serge yelled over his shoulder.

The door opened and two men stepped through. Just as Mike recognized the shorter of the two, the taller one yelled. “Down, Mike!” 

Mike threw himself onto the floor. He couldn't suppress a yelp as his shoulder hit the corner of the table.

A split second later, he heard a muffled hiss followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. 

“Over here, Chris.”

“Is he all right?”

A hand shook his injured shoulder and he winced as pain shot through him.

 

“I’m okay, Andrew,” Mike answered as he pushed himself up with his uninjured arm.

"Andrew, you take him back, I’ll go look for John and Jenna.”

“No,” Mike protested. “It’s just a bad bruise. I’ll help you.”

Chris put a finger on Mike’s shoulder and pushed gently. Mike cried out again and pulled away. “That’s no bruise,”

Andrew silently slipped a matter transporter around his friend’s wrist. “We’ll be back, Chris,” he promised.

The Sap nodded as he watched them vanish, then smashed the intercom’s controls and left, locking the door behind him.

He moved cautiously down the corridor, peeking through the small windows in the doors.

* * * * *

John smiled as they finally approached a wall.

“Big room,” Jenna said, putting her hand out to touch it as if to reassure herself that it was really there.

“We may not have walked in a straight line.”

“Hey, there’s a door,” she said, pointing off to their left.

They went to it quickly. 

“Do we open it?” she asked, letting go of his hand.

“Why not?” he said, putting a hand on the knob.

There was a sudden flash of blue light and their tiny light went out. Jenna heard John fall.

* * * * *

Andrew and Elizabeth were concentrating on the break in Mike’s shoulder. Their combined minds focused through TIM were creating a large ball of warmth that was slowly putting Mike to sleep as the pain began to diminish.

“That’s it, Elizabeth,” the computer told her quietly. “The bone is whole now.”

Mike moved the arm, feeling only a slight twinge of pain. "Thanks."

* * * * *

Jenna knelt down and lifted John’s shoulders propping him up against her. She shook him. “Wake up, dammit!”

He stirred, then moaned. “Jenna, watch your language,” he whispered.

“What the Hell happened?”she asked.

“Door...must have had... had an electrical charge,” he said and shivered. “Not enough to kill, just... just enough to scramble the  
nerves and knock a person unconscious. See if you can find the light.”

"Whoo that was nasty,” he said and shivered again.

“Are you cold?”

“No, it’s just the aftereffects of the shock, I think,” he told her as he sat up. “Find the torch, Jenna. I think I can dismantle the mechanism, but I need light to do it.”

“You’ve convinced me,” she said, getting onto her hands and knees and feeling for the small cylinder. “I can’t find it, John.”

Suddenly, white lights blazed down from the ceiling, brighter than the sun after so much time in total darkness.

Both telepaths winced as their eyes fought to adjust to the sudden brilliance.

The door was flung open and someone came barreling through. “John?” a voice asked in concern.

John blinked, trying to make out the figure above him. He recognized the voice at once. “Chris? How did you...?”

“Never mind that. We’ve been looking for you two for hours.”

“We’ve been right here, Chris,” John said with a grin.

“Ready to go back to the Lab?”

Jenna was standing now. “You don’t know how ready, pal!”

“What happened to you, then?” Chris asked, crouching beside John. “That hand looks pretty nasty. How’d you burn it, eh?” 

“Later, Chris. Let’s just get out of here before the Saps come back.”

Chris handed Jenna two transporter bands and reached to help John to his feet. Jenna slipped one around John’s wrist.

“Okay, TIM,” Chris said into the special two radio John had built into Chris’ A.E. suit.

The three of them appeared in the Lab a moment later.

Chris put an arm around John’s shoulders and grinned. “H’lo, Liz, Look what I found. I’m afraid one of them’s a bit damaged, though.”

Chris helped John to the nearest sofa while Jenna came down the steps and plopped down beside John in exhaustion. 

Elizabeth gasped as she spotted the burns on his right hand. “What happened to you?”

John looked down at the palm of his hand for the first time. “I touched an electrified doorknob.”

And got knocked on his ass, again,” Jenna said.

“It’s tingling a bit, but it doesn’t hurt,” he explained calmly.

Chris peered at the hand again. “It’s going to do more than tingle in a little while. You’d better let Liz fix it for you.”

He sighed and held out his hand. 

Chris grinned as he watched Elizabeth pass her hand over John’s and saw the burned flesh turn from angry red to healthy pink. It always fascinated him to see the Tomorrow People heal wounds with only a thought.

“Hey, TIM. How do we go about getting our special powers back?”

“I have analyzed the substance the Russians gave you. The effects should wear off in the next twenty four hours.”

“That’s a relief.”

Chris was holding a thick folder and looking through it silently.

“What’s got me worried is how they managed to catch Mike so easily. How could they know where to find him?” John said, frowning.

Chris whistled. “I’ll tell you how they knew,” he said, standing, the folder open in his hands 

“What have you got there?” Elizabeth asked, seeing the folder for the first time. 

Chris walked over to where she stood and they looked at the documents in the folder. “I don’t read Russian, but I saw this on a desk not long after Andrew and I found Mike. Mike’s picture was sticking out of it so I thought it might be important and  
brought it with me.”

Elizabeth frowned as she leafed through the pages. “Oh, my. Pictures of Mike, Hsui Tai, Andrew, John, me and the twins.”

But we haven’t had anything to do with the KGB, have we?” Jenna asked.

“Once, a few years ago, but nothing recent."

“I didn’t think they knew about Andrew and Hsui Tai yet,” John said quietly.

“Do you think they could have someone in the SIS. Major Hughes is the only one who’s ever met Hsui Tai.”

John shrugged and pulled the stack of forms and reports from the folder. “TIM, can you make copies of these in English please?”

“Certainly, John.”

The telepath laid the papers onto TIM’s domed top.

“It will take a few minutes.”

“Take your time, TIM.”

“John? Jenna? You are safe!” Hsui Tai cried as she entered with two dark-haired boys in tow.

“So, these are our new Tomorrow People,” John said, standing. //Which of you is Nikolai?//

The boy on Hsui Tai’s left raised a hand and smiled. //I am Nikolai.//

//Then, this must be Piotr,// John said with a welcoming smile. He extended his hand in greeting.

The boy backed away slightly.

“He’s a bit shy,” Elizabeth said. //It’s all right, Piotr, you can trust John.//

Piotr moved slowly forward and took John’s hand. As soon as their fingers touched, a wide grin spread across his face.

 

 

Chapter Ten  
New Friends and Old Enemies

“John, I have finally sorted out those papers and translated them,” TIM announced.

“Yes, TIM?”

“They all deal with plans to capture any telepaths they can, brainwash them and use them against the governments of the Western countries.”

“That’s basically what they were doing with Pavla before she ran away from them.”

“That is correct, Elizabeth,” TIM said. “But there was trouble with the plan. The file tells of five other telepaths, not counting Pavla and the twins, who “failed” and were, to quote the records, “destroyed” or died suddenly for no apparent reason.”

“Does the file say what they were trying to get them to do?” Jenna asked.

“They wanted them to Jaunt into the different military centers and steal the plans for the most recent weapons.”

“So?”

“Don’t you see, Chris?” John said quietly. “If the Russians had the plans for the most secret weapons of the other countries they would have an unfair advantage. The Russians would be able to sabotage all the other weapons and thousands, maybe millions would be killed.”

Jenna shivered. “That’s what Arthur and his gang were planning to do with me and the other kids they caught in the States,” she said quietly. 

“Why did they die though?” Chris asked. 

“Chris, we can’t kill, remember? Obviously just thinking about what would happen if they did what the Russians asked was too much for them.” 

“And they self-destructed?”

“In a way, yes.”

“So what do we do now? Go and convince them to leave you lot alone?”

John shook his head. “No, Chris, we can’t,” he said quietly. “It just means that any telepaths born in Russia aren’t going to have an easy time of it. But there’s nothing we can do for them except try to get to them before the Russians do.” He turned to TIM.  
“Was there anything about us in the file, other than the pictures?”

“Yes, John. There were photos of Stephen, Tyso, Elizabeth, Tricia, Hsui Tai, Mike and yourself. Only you, Mike, Elizabeth, Tricia and Tyso are listed by name however. The report states that they are unsure of your nationalities.”

“Well that makes thing a little easier, at least our families aren’t in danger,” John said. “Do they  
know about the Lab, TIM?”

“It isn’t mentioned in the file, but they are unsure whether there is a central headquarters or whether you are connected to each other or not.” 

“What’s going to happen to the twins?” Jenna asked. “They can’t go home, they can’t go to the States. Any ideas?”

John took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about that. Chris, you and I can go pick up their mother and take all three of them to the Trig. They’ll be safe there.”

Chris nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

* * * * *

They found Kafia Proshadn huddled in a chair in the kitchen of the little house. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her face filled with fear as they appeared.

“It’s all right, Mrs. Proshadn, Piotr and Nikolai are safe,” he said quietly. TIM was feeding him the Russian words telepathically.

She looked up at him in confusion. “Who are you?”

“My name is John. This is Chris, he’s a friend.”

“My boys... the KGB...”

“The boys are safe,” he repeated. “Would you like to join them?”

Her face brightened. “Where are they?”

“They’re in England and we can take you to them. Pack quickly, you can’t come back here.”

She looked up at him suspiciously. “Another trap?”

“It isn’t a trap,” John reassured her quietly. “You and your boys are going to be taken somewhere safe.”

She backed away. “Not Siberia?”

John looked away for an instant. //Liz, she doesn’t trust me. Will you bring Nikolai here?//

Kafia’s face went pale with shock as a woman appeared a moment later with Nikolai who looked amazed at suddenly being home.

"Mama, it’s all right,” her son said quickly. “They took us away from the KGB. They’re going to take us far away.”

His mother looked worriedly at her son. “Where is your brother?”

“He’s safe, Mama, we will take you to him. You must pack quickly.”

They heard a car door slam outside and John frowned. “There’s no time for that now,” he snapped. “I was hoping we could do this the easy way, but...” He reached forward, grabbed Kafia’s arm and slapped a matter transporter band around it. //Now, TIM!//

The group vanished just as the front door burst open and a team of men crowded into the little house.

 

Epilogue  
Adjustments

John looked up from his book as Elizabeth and Mike appeared on the Jaunting pad.

“How’re things at the Trig?” he asked. “Are Kafia and the boys settling in all right?”

Elizabeth grinned. “Piotr and Nikolai have discovered “hoverball” and they’ve formed a team with Carol’s Peter and Johanna and are taking on Kenny and Tyso’s team.”

“And Kafia?”

“Carol and Timon are helping her adjust. She’s become friends with Kenny’s mother.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Elizabeth dropped onto one of the sofas. “I’m glad we found them when we did.”

“So am I.” 

“What about all the other Tomorrow People who break out in Russia?”

John sighed. “We’ll do what we can, Mike.”


End file.
